October 2015
45 Days to Find My Way is a year-long project with 11 young disabled people exploring identity, personal ambition and achieving goals through the arts. We’re going to be creating a digital portraiture exhibition at ARC which will be launched at the end of November, so we began by looking at what a photograph can say, what it can tell us if we look really closely.
A truly wonderful, energised and enthusiastic group of young people came together in September after a couple of taster sessions earlier in the summer. They are generous, supportive of each other and open to the adventure we’re embarking on.
We’ve been using drama exercises to get to know each other, discussion and visual art to talk about personal qualities and skills. We’ve had a lot of fun but everyone is dedicated to working hard. We’ve made collages, an animated film, short stop frame individual animations and even been featured in a Spirit of 2012 Trust Film. Already, Emily, a group member keen to be a professional photographer, has talked about making exhibitions accessible to disabled people in different ways. She talked with passion about sensory experiences for people with complex requirements. She’d love to share this information with professional and public galleries. Can’t wait to see what the exhibition brings!